Ash's Nine tales
by Fellwind Wraith
Summary: Ash gets an alolan vulpix as a starter. this changes how he trains severly. A mysterious trainer gives him an incredibly stong pokemon. Who is this man?
1. Chapter 1

Ash woke to the screeching ring of his alarm clock. He absentmindedly noted that it was 9:48. Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he prepared to reassert himself in his dreams of meeting his starter Pokemon.

Wait…

"I'm gonna be late!" Ash launched out of bed, somehow managing to get a shirt on, and put on his hat before touching the ground. He grabbed his pre-prepared backpack while also fitting one leg through a pair of jeans, but doing so caused him to fall down the stairs.

"Ow." He said simply. His mother seemed to think that the crumpled ten year old was looking hilarious with his posterior in the air, and a pant leg loose on the floor. "Hi Mom! Bye Mom!" Ash yelled after fixing himself, and grabbing a piece of toast. He ran out the front door.

The road to the Pokemon professor's laboratory was not a long one. Ash watched the sky as pidgeys flew with their evolutionary brethren. He smiled. But his smile fell when he spotted Gary Oak, his rival, of all things, DRIVING, away from the building. Several groupies in his car, he sped away from his grandfather's laboratory. Ash shook his head and entered the building.

"Ash! You're very late!" Professor Oak exclaimed.

"Sorry about that! My clock some how snoozed itself nine times." Ash joked. Oak chuckled.

"I'm sorry Ash, I've ran out of the regular starter Pokemon, even my extra's have been used up!"

"Is there anything you can give me?" Ash said, expecting a no. his dreams of becoming a pokemon master crumbling into dirt.

"Actually..." the doctor looked off in thought. "...there is one Pokemon from another region… trainers aren't allowed to use Pokémon from other regions normally, but TECHNICALLY it did originate here." Oak smiled, Ash looked ready to burst. A pokeball rose from the floor. It had a custom snowflake design. "Alolan Vulpix is an ice Pokemon. As a trainer, you might pick up a Kanto Vulpix, and I'd love to see the species to breed."

The pokeball opened, and Ash fell in love with the beautiful six tailed albino fox. The fox looked curiously at Ash, and when he bends down to pet the Pokemon, he let it sniff his hand. Satisfied, the fox pushed its head into the teens hand. Vulpix's fur was ice cold, but even still, Ash petted the fox. The professor handed a pokedex to Ash, and he scanned Vulpix immediately.

VULPIX, the Fox pokemon. It exhales air colder than -58 degrees Fahrenheit. Elderly people in Alola call this Pokémon by an older name—Keokeo. In hot weather, this Pokémon makes ice shards with its six tails and sprays them around to cool itself off.

This Vulpix is Female, and has the ability Snow Cloak, and knows the moves; powder snow, tail whip, roar, and baby doll eyes. It also has the Egg move Moonblast.

"She seems to like you. She's going to grow very strong." Ash nodded

* * *

The trip to Viridian City was relatively short, but Ash wanted to be prepared to skip the town, and head straight to the Viridian Forest. Along the way, Vulpix battled many enemies, mostly pidgeys and rattatas, and gained some experience battling. Ash had her practice powder snow, so that the icy wind and snow flurries could even freeze water. And the layers Vulpix made got thick enough for Ash to comfortably stand on.

"Alright, Vulpix!" Ash exclaimed, getting the fox's attention. "You've worked hard these past few hours, deserve some relaxation." the fox acknowledged this with an agreeing call, and settled herself into his lap. When the preteen laid back, the kit moved its way to his chest, her ice cold fur and cool breath was perfect for the unusual intense heat.

They laid comfortably for at least an hour. Ash decided that catching a pidgey wouldn't be such a bad idea, but maybe in a few days. Ash was planning on camping out in Viridian forest for a few days to make sure Vulpix was strong enough to take out anything the first gym could throw at her.

He gently shook his starter pokemon. She woke slowly, and when she finally opened her sky blue eyes, she closed them again as she yawned. Ash wasn't sure if he ever saw anything half as cute as his starter anytime in his whole life, and he was sure he wouldn't ever. Ash spent the next few hours teaching Vulpix ice shard. It was easy considering the kit used something similar to cool herself off.

* * *

The first trainer they met was, oddly enough, a full grown man, maybe in his mid twenties. He had black hair, and red eyes. He wore a red jacket, open with a black shirt underneath. He also wore a red hat with a white bill, and black jeans. He was stoic looking, and he was laying back in the tall grass off the side of the road. He sat up just as Ash was about to pass him.

"Are you a trainer?" The stranger asked, already knowing the answer. "Do you wanna battle? One of my eggs hatched a few weeks ago, and my Charmander is ready for its first real battle."

"That's fine." Ash agreed. "My Vulpix is from Alola, and I'd like to see her fight at a disadvantage for once." Ash smiled, calling out his starter.

The mystery man smiled. He called out a Charmander, true to his word. It was an almost golden yellow color.

"Wow!" Ash exclaimed. "That's a handsome lizard!"

"Your Vulpix looks amazing too." The man commented. Both Pokemon beamed at the compliments. " I'm sorry to say this, but your not going to win this match. Even though Charmander is young, I've been training him very hard. He's close to evolving, and already has learned some pretty powerful moves."

Ash smiled. He had noticed the way Charmander stood, and how strong it looked. Vulpix was toast. Just really cold toast. But she needed experience.

"Let's go!" Ash shouted.

"Charmander, use ember!" The lizard spit a rather large ball of fire

"Vulpix, powder snow, followed with baby doll eyes!" Ash called. Vulpix summoned an icy snow filled wind, that extinguished the flame, but Charmander was already charging for a scratch. Charmander hesitated at the sad look on Vulpix's face. Ash let the weak attack hit, before yelling, "Ice shard point blank!" And Vulpix's eyes squinted, as she jumped forward and landed a hard slash to Charmanders chest, all six tails scratching with icicles.

"That was a nice move," the stranger called out as the Pokemon separated. Charmander looked no worse for wear, and didn't look to be in much pain. Vulpix however took some damage. "I'm impressed. Your Pokemon trusted you enough to take a hit even without you commanding it."

"Thanks!" Ash smiled "That ember was huge though, I didn't think we could actually take it down."

"Well then try to evade this. Ember! Fire a few of 'em!" Charmander obeyed, and three shots at Vulpix. The white fox dodged between them and charged, without a word from Ash, understanding the unspoken strategy.

Vulpix got in close and launched an icy wind, which at point blank blew back and chilled Charmander. Ash saw an opening and yelled a command at the same time as his opponent.

"Dragon rage!/Ice shard!" Ice shards formed on each tail of Vulpix. She spun on her heal and flung them towards a giant blue flame heading her way. The blue flame surrounded the icicles, overtook them, and hit Vulpix. The fox yelped and fell back hard, barely conscious.

"Vulpix return!" Ash yelled. Immediately using a potion on his pokeball. "You're a very skilled trainer."

"I've been doing this a while." The man smiled honestly. "You really didn't have much chance. Charmander knows flamethrower. He's also got dragon rush as an egg move." Ash gasped. That most definitely meant that this pokemon was ready to evolve easily.

"That's amazing!" Ash exclaimed.

"Yeah, but I already have two Charizards. One of them is shiny too. So there's no room for this little guy in my party." The man said, with mock distraught. "No one seems willing to take him off my hands." Ash smiled. He walked towards the lizard. He bent down and scratched under its neck.

"Would you like to join me?" The Pokemon drew out its name longingly as it was scratched, and nodded. The man smiled. He walked forward and snapped Charmander's pokeball in two.

"This isn't a trade, so you should catch him yourself." He explained. Ash nodded, and selected a pokeball from his waist. He pressed it against Charmander's unusual yellow skinned head. He was absorbed without hesitation.

"My names Ash Ketchum. Who are you?"

"You can call me R." He said strangely.

"Would you like to travel with us?" Ash asked.

"Thanks but I've got a faster way to travel then walking." The man released a Black Charizard from the Pokeball at his waist. It roared intensely, and R mounted the dragon. He waved as the beast took flight, expelling enormous flames from its black snout.

"Wow…" Ash stood gobsmacked, then grinned, and marched toward Viridian.

* * *

He released both of his pokemon. Ordering them to spar. He watched them carefully, as he cooked them both dinner over a small fire Charmander had lit for him. It was generic poke-soup, meant to warm up cold, tired pokemon. Of course, he left one bowl of it aside, heated food was bad for ice pokemon. Vulpix would probably freeze her soup anyway.

Ash gathered old leaves and bigger pieces of wood to change his cooking fire, into a campfire. He called over his pokemon, and they soon were all eating silently.

"Would you two rather sleep in the pokeball, or out here?" Ash asked the two, as they sleepily blinked their eyes, minutes after finishing their food. Vulpix tacked him from his sitting position, hard into the dirt, and was 'asleep' barely after he hit the ground.

Ash chuckled at her antics. Charmander timidly approached him. Ash realised the small lizard was afraid to sleep near him because of his flame. Ash remember reading about fire pokemon and their relationships with trainers.

"Do you trust me?" ash asked, and Charmander nodded, curious of his new master. "Then your flame can't hurt me. Watch." Ash stuck his hand into the fiery tail of Charmander, nocking Vulpix off his chest. The fire pokemon whipped his tail away, not looking at Ash in shame. "You can look up. I'm not hurt." Ash indead, was not on fire. Charmander looked astonished. Ash smiled and placed the lizard next to him, on his right side, while Vulpix took his left, silently cooling the burns on Ash's hand. It was a small price to pay for Charmanders trust.

* * *

The next morning, Ash woke up from the strangest rest ever. On one side he was sweating, and the other, he was ice cold. His pokemon had switched sides occasionally to make him more comfortable, but that keep him up longer.

Ash gazed upon the trees around him. Everywhere in the tall grass he could see the bending of leaves, signifying that small rodent Pokemon were near. He heard caws as the pidgey and Spearow flew together.

Then he heard a screech, and all hell broke loose. The sky was choked in a cloud of avian Pokemon. A Pidgeot and Fearow were clawing at each other, and smaller evolutions of the birds joined in.

"It's a turf war." Ash said out loud. He ran down the road. On his right was a stream where he saw a girl his age jumping on her bike. "Head towards the Pokemon center, I'll cover you!" He yelled as the flock took notice in him, turning combined rage from each other to the trespasser in their disputed territory.

Ash released his Pokemon. "Sorry to push you guys like this. Charmander, flamethrower! Vulpix ice shard!" The lizard let loose an explosive burst of flame, Charring the birds wherever it touched them. Vulpix took the opposite side, either chucking ice shards, or chilling birds with powder snow, shivering so much they fell from the sky, others actually froze, falling in great thumps to the ground.

The flocks fled in different directions, almost all except a few Pidgeottos, and the flock leaders.

"Vulpix! Ice shard! Get the small birds out of the air" Ash ordered. "Charmander get in there with a few embers then use rage!" Vulpix fired hail after hail at the birds flying at them. The ones who weren't hit were soon scorched by embers, Charmander fired few at Pidgeot and Fearow to get their attention. Then the lizard let a red veil fall over his vision as he growled. The birds dive bombed him, scratching him slightly, but he held on, his anger growing, making him stronger.

"NOW! Fire fang!" Ash yelled. Charmander lashed out, slashing with his claws and biting at Pidgeot, flames billowing from his mouth and red hot fangs digging in. Fearow looked to be preparing a drill peck on either one of the battling pokemon. "Vulpix! Cover him!" The Pokemon shot a powder snow, the flurry, while not to damaging, froze and blinded Fearow. It fell to the ground, out of the fight. Ash figured that by the time it thawed, it would have calmed down and would never want to be in this area again.

Meanwhile, Pidgeot gave Charmander an intense fight. It was very big even for a Pidgeot. And it quickly overpowered Charmander as he came out of his rage. The fire Pokemon tried to spit a spout of fire, but the bird pinned him by the throat. Vulpix flew in with an ice shard, smacking off the bird. It flew into the air, and Vulpix orderlessly stood and glared up at the avian. The moment the two pokemon made eye contact, the large bird fell from the sky, flailing its wings. Charmander then spat a flame so large that Vulpix dodged closer to Ash to avoid the heat. Pidgeot fell directly into the firestorm, burned. It crashed hard into the ground, and Ash threw a pokeball immediately. The bird was in critical condition, and barely showed any resistance.

Ash walked to the ball, and picked it up. He was worried for the Pidgeot. But that wouldn't stop him from congratulating his pokemon on the capture of a fully evolved pokemon.

"You guys rocked!" Ash exclaimed. "Let's get you some rest." Ash returned Vulpix. He turned to Charmander. "You did great. I'm just wondering, why didn't you evolve during the fight?" Charmander got a distraught look and meekly responded in poke-speech. Ash tilted his head. "You're worried that you'll change upon evolving?" The lizard nodded. "That's fine buddy, it's part of growing up. You'll still be you, you'll just look older." The lizard looked more confident. "You wanna evolve?" It nodded. "Even though you can change right now, I think we should wait, surprise our opponent with an evolution. Is that okay?" The Fire Pokemon nodded, and returned to his Pokeball.

* * *

Ash walked towards Viridian. The quality of the road was improving, less wild Pokemon bothered him, so when he saw the first buildings, he wasn't surprised. He made his way towards and into the Pokémon center. It's odd shape and colors alerted him when he was blocks away to where it was. He noticed a bike laying on the side of the building just as he entered. The red haired girl was sitting on a bench in the lobby.

"Hey!" She stood, running over to him. "How did you escape? I was fairly confident me and all of my Pokémon couldn't have survived that storm."

"Well, me and my Pokémon fought them off." She looked at him gobsmacked. "I'm willing to

Show them to you after their check up" she nodded furiously.

He moved toward the desk.

"Hey, I've just caught a Pidgeot that fell from the sky in our battle. It was hurt really bad when it fell, and my Charmander fired a flamethrower at it as fell."

"That sounds rather brutal. But a new trainer and his starter Charmander fighting of a Pidgeot? That's unheard of, on the third day away from pallet no less!" Ash blushed. He didn't bother to correct her.

* * *

"Hi professor." Ash said to the screen.

"Why hello Ash! You must have made it to Viridian finally. I hope you caught lots of Pokémon!"

"Well I made one new teammate, and caught an amazingly large Pidgeot. I might have you take care of it. "

"Yes, a Pidgeot does seem a bit out of your talent for Pokémon training." Oak said. Ash sweatdropped.

"Explain how my new teammate Charmander is at a high enough level to evolve into Charmeleon." Oak smile dropped. Where had Ash gotten that?

"Is this new Charmander perhaps shiny?" Oak asked. He had been begging for that man to let him study his Charizard for years, and he hands its offspring to a newbie trainer.

"Yeah, why professor?"

"Ash. Who gave you it?"

"Dunno, he called himself 'R'." Oak shook his head.

"Send me it's pokeball Ash." The Professor demanded.

"Um… why should I?"

"Besides the fact that it's out of your experience to train along with you don't have the badges required to make it obey and respect you," the Pokémon Professor started, " I had asked this 'trainer' you met, several times to let me see the specimen, and he refused, saying he could do what he wished with his Pokémon."

"He's not wrong." Ash agreed

"No, he's not. What I want is to study shiny Pokémon, learn what makes them change color, and apply that in a way so shiny Pokémon are less rare." The Professor explained.

"Sorry doc, but that's stupid. If you change more Pokémon shiny, they won't blend in with environment and die off. You could kill off species." Ash explained.

"Still, I'd like you to send it over. Perhalp pokemon trainers should have the choice to have a colored starter."

"No. He's my Pokémon."

"But Ash-" The young trainer hung up. He did not send over Pidgeot's Pokeball. And he would not send Charmander.

"So are you gonna show me what amazing pokemon you used to defeat an entire swarm of bird pokemon?" the red-orange haired girl asked. Ash took a moment to really look at the girl. She was just a bit taller than him, and had very soft features. She wore a yellow crop top that showed a toned belly, and short shorts that cut off really high. Red suspenders held up her pants to the shoulders. She was cute, ash admitted to himself.

Currently the two were outside the pokemon center, behind the building, where large trainer arena was located. Ash stood in the middle with misty.

"Of course. Come on out guys!" He called. His two opposing type pokemon revealed themselves in a flash of white light. Misty had mixed reactions from the two. Charmander was a very handsome pokemon, and very rare as a shiny. But Ash's Vulpix… that was inarguably the most adorable thing she had ever seen. (how many of you remember regular Vulpix's relationship with misty? If your curious, look up the scene on youtube.)

"I really wouldn't do that." Ash said as the girl went to pick up Vulpix. If she heard him, she didn't show it. The girl picked up Vulpix and held her up to her face. This proved to be a bad idea. She wasn't prepared to the coolness of Vulpix's snow like fur, and almost dropped Vulpix, and Vulpix unleashed powder snow, cooling the red heads skin. She screamed and dropped the fox pokemon.

"Here." Ash dropped his jacket upon the girls unsleeved shoulders. "Charmander, help her out." the lizard walked their way, turned around, and the fire that lit his tail grew, warming up the shivering girl. Vulpix 'hmph-ed' in poke-speech

"Thanks…" she said, her shivering slowing down. She giggled. "I forgot to ask your name."

"I'm Ash." he said, smiling.

"Misty." She responded. He quickly realised their closeness, he had put his arms around her neck to secure the coat, and he never removed them. Their faces were incredibly close. Hoping she wouldn't notice the awkwardness of the situation, he removed his arms slowly, he started telling her the short story up to his present location.

* * *

"Eek! A bug!" Misty screamed. Ash held his ears.

"Wow Misty, it's just a caterpie. It probably only knows string shot." Ash said, trying to calm the teen down. He already had Vulpix with him.

"Vulpix, roar." the small pokemon happily obliged, and a guttural roar escaped the small pokemon. Ash was sure every pokemon within the mile heard the roar, and most were running. It was a shame really. He was hoping to catch a Pikachu. He had thought out his team already, and figured that right now what he needed was an electric or rock type. Ash didn't like how slow kanto's rock pokemon are, so electric was his best choice. He figured Pikachu, one of the fastest, would be a great addition.

"Thank you." Misty sighed in relief.

"No problem." Ash said, then drifted back into his thoughts.

"What's the matter?" Misty asked. His frown deepened.

"My pokemon aren't great against rock types. I'll have to pull something great to win against the Pewter gym."

"Try to find a grass type while were in these awful woods." Misty suggested. Ash shook his head.

"These woods are known for their teeming bug pokemon. That doesn't bode well for any grass type. The most diverse things here are pikachu. And they aren't any good angest rock either."

"Unless you teach them iron tail. Do any of your pokemon have any iron attacks?" Misty tilted her head cutely as she asked.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure Charmander can learn iron claw. Never thought to use it though." Ash said, "Anyway, I was hoping you could-

"HIYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" A kid about Ash's age screamed as he chopped down with a sword inches from slashing the new trainers face. Ash jumped back, and Vulpix sent an icy wind at the boy (recently learned). The boy shivers, but tried to hide his discomfort.

"What's wrong with you?!" Ash yelled

"Are you the trainer from Pallet town?" the 'samurai' asked.

"So what if I am?" Ash changed. "That's no reason for you to chop my head off."

"You misunderstand me, amature. I wish you battle you." Ash growled.

"Oh really? And who are you?" The new trainer asked

"My name is Samurai! And I have battled all of the pallet trainers before you! Each was a glorious match in which I lost happily. But my latest challenger informed me of an upstart trainer tailing behind, and not training his pokemon properly!" The 'Samurai' sheathed his sword, and drew a pokeball instead.

"Fine. My name is Ash and you just made a big mistake!" Ash returned Vulpix. He took out Charmander's pokeball. "Let's do this!" the trainers through their pokeballs. Samurai released a Pinsir, and it stood firm as Charmander let out a loud call.

"Pinsir, get in and crush him with vice grip!" Samurai ordered.

"Charmander, hold your ground, and push back those claws." Ash called out calmly.

When the Bug pokemon charged, Pinsirs closing, Charmander let out his subby arms, able to fit between the spikes, and pushed hard. Holding the larger-than-him bug in place.

"Open up and give him an ember." Ash said. He was convinced this was over.

"Pinsir! Hyper beam!" Ash would have been shocked, if not for the fact at Charmander's ember blew pinsir in the air. The type advantage, plus point blank range, put the bug pokemon down. A low buzzing slowly was rising from the monotone of the forest.

"Are we done?" Ash asked. He took no pride in the match. Charmander growled. The buzzing grew substantially louder.

"That is once fierce pokemon. But I fear that our match has brought in a hive of Beedrill!" Ash turned without fear to the buzzing behind him. Dozens of beedrill were approaching. Misty screamed and ran to him, putting her arms around his neck and shoving her face into his shoulder. Ash called out Vulpix. He took charge immediately.

"Both of you, use roar!" the pokemon obeyed, letting lose sounds that vibrate the air and caused most of the Beedrill to flee immediately. Ash ordered Charmander to use flamethrower. Very few of the bee pokemon where burned, but the rest fled immediately.

"How did you do that?" Samurai asked, amazed. Misty was looking awestruck, and a little starstruck too.

"Simple. Most pokemon can tell when they are outclassed. And a roar can show how strong your pokemon are. As for the few that were left, well, beedrill are VERY flammable. And it's easy to tell what happens when a bug catches fire." Ash explained. Samurai paused. And Misty took the chance to untangle herself, but she still held Ash's hand.

"The other trainers are very wrong. You may be behind them, but you surpass them in every way. Good luck to you, friend." and Samurai walked off.

* * *

"Is everyone ready?" Ash asked his group. Charmander roared. Vulpix nodded. "Remember, flamethrower then icy wind." His pokemon nodded.

"Are you sure about this? My pokemon could help if it goes berserk." Misty pleaded.

"I have to gain its respect as its trainer if I want to keep it. I'm not going to force it into submission, I'm going to offer it a place on my team, if it refuses, I'm going to release it. Just hide somewhere in the trees so he doesn't see you."

When Ash did release Pidgeot, it cawed. Loud. It might as well have been a screech attack.

"Woah! Calm down. It's fine it's fine." the bird ceased its calling, and looked down upon the trainer and his pokemon. It glared hard upon them. "My name is Ash," The bird didn't seem to care much. "And I know you can tell I'm a talented trainer. But I am also very new, and if you don't want to be my pokemon…" he paused to see if Pidgeot was paying attention. When he saw attentiveness and calculating eyes, he opened his palm, showing the alpha bird his hands. Within them was its pokeball. "I will, without hesitation, release you."

The birds eyes widened, until he realised the boy was bluffing. Of course it did not want a trainer, especially one so early in his journey. The boy would never pass up the opportunity to have such a strong pokemon in his party. Pidgeot cawed, still glaring. Then ash did something that surprised everyone present.

He snapped Pidgeots pokeball in two. The bird remained still for only a moment, before it flew away at speeds fast enough to warp trees.

* * *

"So, have you ever gone fishing?" Misty asked. They were taking a short break next to a small pond. Ash let both his pokemon out, and they were playing a game. Vulpix fired ice shards into the air, and Charmander shot embers at the icicles before they hit the ground. Ash searched his pack, and found a collapsible fishing pole.

"A few times when I was younger. I've only ever caught small magikarp."

"Well I love fishing. I only use water pokemon." Ash looked at her strangely.

"What if your opponent has Electric types?" Ash asked.

"I didn't say my pokemon only use water type moves, did I?" she smirked. Ash smiled widely.

"No, you did not." Ash answered. They fell into a comfortable silence. After a while of watching his pokemon play, he decided upon some training for them. He left his pole with Misty after wedging it between to lumps of stone.

"Charmander, come here." Ash said. He took out his Pokedex and scanned the lizard as he rushed over.

CHARMANDER, the Lizard pokemon. The flame that burns at the tip of its tail is an indication of its emotions. The flame wavers when CHARMANDER is happy, and blazes when it is enraged.

This pokemon is male and has the ability Blaze, and knows the moves Scratch, Growl, Ember, Smoke Screen, Fire Fang, Slash, and Flamethrower. This pokemon has the Egg move Dragon Rush.

Misty whistled. "Wow." She said. "That's a nice moveset."

"Charmander," the little lizard looked up at Ash. "have you ever trained your dragon rush technique?" the little lizard nodded his head. He turned, kneeled, and suddenly an aura of draconic energy surrounded Charmander, and his blue eyes shrunk into slits. His green aura only stuck out an inch or so, and probably wouldn't get much bigger until he evolved. Charmander realized that he had nowhere to run to do the Rush part of the dragon move. So, embarrassed, Charmander dissolved the technique.

"Wow." Ash said amazed. Then a light clicked in his head. "Charmander, keep up your dragon rush, just don't crash into anything, stay as still as possible." The fire pokemon nodded, although confused. The draconic aura sprang up around him like green fire. "Keep that up buddy. Don't stop until you can't stand it anymore."

Charmander held the move for thirty seconds. He would take five minute breaks to catch his breath but his first run was definitely his best. Meanwhile he turned to Vulpix.

"We are going to work on Moonblast." Ash said as he look at his pokedex, describing the move and how to properly teach it. "But for that we will have to wait until nighttime." he smiled at his cute starter pokemon. "You can relax for a while." Vulpix yawned at him and pawed at his legs until he picked her up. She immediately fell asleep, he cold body cooling Ash. Ash smiled evilly.

By night she would train Moonblast, and by day she would learn Ice beam. Aurora beam was a move she could learn first, but Ice beam was stronger and he felt it matched her current training better. Flashy rainbow energy beams just wasn't something he wanted to teach.

"Ash! You've caught something!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Ash! You've caught something!"

* * *

Ash turned and ran as fast as he could towards his pole, which was bending like a tree in a hurricane. Ash pulled out a pokeball, and set Vulpix down onto the ground (she was not happy with being tossed around within Ash's arms as he ran.) He pulled hard on the pole, and the aquatic creature pulled hard back. Ash fought hard against the fiend, but to no avail, he could not get the beast to shore. He handed Misty his pole, took off his jacket and pokeball in hand, _dove into the water_ after his soon to be catch.

Misty watched in anticipation, reeling in and pulling the beast to keep it from escaping. When she suddenly felt no more tug on her fishing pole, she reeled in her line, feeling very heavy but with no resistance.

Ash came out of the water. The end of her line was sealed within a pokeball, and to stop the ball from bursting open, (and to be pulled back to shore, lazy bastard) Ash had gripped the pokeball as tight as he could. Ash let go off the ball and crawled onto shore out of breath. Water dripped off his clothes.

"Ash! You had no idea what pokemon that could have been! For all you know it could have been a Seadra and blown you to pieces!" Misty yelled. Ash took off his shoes and rung his socks as dry as he could get them.

"That thing was bigger than anything I've ever caught before. For all we know it WAS a Seadra. That'd be pretty cool."

"You're insane." Misty said. But she still wanted to know what he had caught. With the pull it was giving she figured it probably was a Goldeen, or maybe a _Carvanha._ Misty would kill to have such a rare water pokemon. "Well open the pokeball so we can get the hook out of whatever you just caught." Ash nodded.

He called his pokemon over. Charmander was exhausted even though he had begun training just ten minutes prior. Ash returned him to his pokeball. Vulpix looked ready, and Ash trusted her enough to not give orders when the fight started. Ash got up, and pressed the release on his pokeball, unleashing his newest pokemon. Misty watched in anticipation, and as she saw bright red scales, she knew one of two things. One, Ash had caught the most useless pokemon in the world, _which was hysterical,_ and that the most useless pokemon the the world evolved into one of the scariest monsters of the sea.

Magikarp. Ash caught a Magikarp. To her credit, Misty did NOT LAUGH. She was going to become the best water type trainer who ever lived. But damn did she want to when she saw Ash's face.

"A Magikarp? But those take FOREVER to train." Ash whined. He shook his head. No. A few weeks of support and letting Magikarp watch some battles to gain experience, would not kill him. "That fine." Ash said as he pulled the hook jentaly from Magikarps mouth. "I'm going to make you the strongest Gyarados Kanto has ever seen. Lance better watch out."

* * *

"Alright Vulpix, this move is like the complete opposite of solar beam. Gather the energy of the moon and store it within you." Vulpix glared. She knew that already. Literally born knowing how it is done. "Yes, I know you know how to do that." Ash sighed. "But I want you to lean how to harness that energy. Moon light from the night time makes Moonblast stronger." Vulpix softened her glare and set up to try again.

She felt the rays of the moon set on her fur and pour into her body. Once she felt she could hold no more energy, Vulpix nudged the energy towards her mouth, compressing the energy into a ball, before firing said ball into a tree nearby. The explosion was loud enough that Misty woke up, along with charmander who was sleeping with his tail in the campfire.

They rushed towards the noise to find Ash sitting on the ground, staring at Vulpix, who had her head held high. The tree she fired at was fallen to the ground, and smoking with heat. Ash started to cry.

"Vulpix." He said with such emotion. "I am so happy I was late to picking up a pokemon."

* * *

For the next week Ash trained in the same clearing. After about three day's, Misty decided to part ways with the young trainer, she couldn't stick around for his journey when she too had a goal set in mind. She gave him a phone number to call in case he needed any help with Magikarp once it evolved.

The first thing Ash set out to do was get Magikarp comfortable with him. So Ash decided some swimming with his newest pokemon wouldn't hurt. Vulpix learned a very weak Ice beam. She just isn't mature enough to use a full powered Ice beam. Ash had no idea where he was going to find an Ice stone. They were not available in Kanto, but he wanted to hide that from Vulpix as much as possible.

To compensate for a low powered Ice beam, Ash had Vulpix fire an ice beam while building a Moonblast, for a double attack in the quickest time. While training this, Vulpix learned to add her element to a Moonblast, turning the bright white ball into a light blue, and upon impact released ice energy along with the explosion.

The new move, Moon Freeze, was something Charmander hated in spars. It was almost unavoidable.

Charmander held dragon rush every day. A measly 30 seconds paled to the three minutes he could now hold the move. Using Dragon Aura, a fitting name, Ash decided, Was much like Dragon Dance. Using the aura made Charmander faster, stronger, and more intimidating.

So after a week of training, Ash was ready for Pewter gym.

* * *

Pidgeot watched the boy train his pokemon from time to time. It interested the regal bird how the boy genuinely loved pokemon. Releasing a powerful pokemon like itself just because Pidgeot didn't wish to be caught? That was NOT how humans were supposed to act. Nevertheless, Pidgeot owed the human. And a debt needs to be repaid.

* * *

Ash stroud through Pewter city, nothing on his mind but a victory against The gym leader. But first, a checkup at the pokemon center was needed. He opted out of calling professor Oak until after he won a gym battle. He watched a trainer with a Rattata and a Spearow both on stretchers, rushed into the emergency treatment area.

"Those guys are the latest ones to challenge Brock." Nurse Joy said sadly. Ash looked at her strangely. He had heard that Brock was the easiest gym battle.

"The League decided that Trainers need to be better prepared for team Rocket, so gym leader were commanded to be harder on trainers." she explained. "Team Rocket is on the rise and buying property all around Kanto. Their members steal and poach pokemon, but the League can't punish them until they are caught, and even the members don't know who the bosses are, so they can't be arrested."

"That's awful." Ash said disgusted. Joy could only nod in agreement.

"Here are your pokemon. We hope to see you again." Joy said on autopilot.

* * *

"I'm here to challenge Pewter gym leader Brock for the Boulder badge." Ash said to the gym receptionist. She nodded and pointed to the automatic door across the room. The lights turned on as he stepped into the arena. A tall tan boy with thin eyes and brown spiky hair was seated upon one of the very large boulders that covered the arena. He shouted loud enough for the entire gym to echo with his booming voice.

"My name is Brock, leader of Pewter gym. State your name, number of badges, and pokemon count."

"My name is Ash Ketchum, this is my first gym battle and I own three pokemon. I'll be using only two to battle." Ash said with power. Brock nodded.

"Then this will be a two on two pokemon battle, and my assistant will act as proctor for this match." Ash nodded. He grabbed Charmander's pokeball from his belt.

"This will be a two on two pokemon battle, only the challenger will be allowed substitutions. Begin!"

As soon as The proctor said 'Begin!' the ball left his hand. The fire lizard was face to face with a four armed boulder known as Graveler. Right away Ash started yelling.

"Flamethrower full power!" Ash yelled. Brock said nothing, but Graveler shone in the light of the fire as it curled its arms close to its body.' _that's defence curl and rock polish. He going to use rollout!'_

"Charmander! Move!" the lizard stopped his streams of fire to dodge to the side, only getting clipped my the giant rock pokemon, and getting thrown into one of the many arena's boulders. Ash new the next attack would be stronger. "Charmander! Can you still fight?" a grunt as the lizard stood told him as much. "Great. Dragon Aura and power up a Slash." Green fire-like energy erupted from Charmander, and his nails glowed green. "Rake his side as he comes past. You don't need to even swing, his own movement should do the trick."

Brock was impressed. "Dragon Aura?" he muttered. Trainers don't usually make their own moves like that. Lance would definitely like to see this move. A Dragon type move made up by some rookie trainer? Unheard of. He decided to see what the move had in store for Graveler, and decided that if Gravelers next hit didn't knock Charmander out, the next one would.

When the next Rollout came Charmander's way, he was ready, and with the speed boost from Dragon Aura, he dodged and raked his claws along Graveler's form for a split second before the Behemoth passed by. Graveler grunted in pain, and came to a stop, holding its right side, as three scratch marks appeared on the rocks pokemons flank. Brocks invisible eyes widened. That was NOT Slash. That was Dragon Claw. He called out his first oder since the beginning of the match, and Ash smiled at the increase in effort by the Pewter gym leader.

"Rock throw." the Boulder pokemon equipped itself with rocks and threw them just as fast. Charmander struggled to dodge, even being hit by one.

"Smoke screen, then power down." Charmander spewed smoke that soon covered the arena. Brock was impressed. The Fire lizard knew where Graveler was, and thus knew where to attack. And brock couldn't move Graveler because his big body made noise wherever he stepped.

"Earthquake!" Brock was getting excited. This was the first interesting. Graveler leaned to one side, lifting his foot off the ground, before slamming it back down. The entire arena shook.

"Moon Freeze!" Instead of a Gold shiny Charmander jumping up to avoid the attack, a white fox with six tails lunged forward with a white beam in mouth, firing to close for Graveler to avoid. The explosion sent the rock pokemon flying, smashing through the boulder behind it, and coming to a stop on Brocks side of the gym. Brock felt a nip in the air, but he recognized the attack as Moonblast, and Moonblast was not a ice type move. In fact, he was so surprised that he almost forgot to return Graveler.

"That was beyond impressive Ash!" Brock praised. "How long have you been a trainer?"

"About two weeks. And thanks!" Ash said as he returned Vulpix and once again sent out Charmander. The lizard was banged up, but ready for the next match. Ash was worried. He knew that Vulpix's Moonblast and its Ice equivalent were always strongest on her first attack.

"I'm impressed, but your earlier attacks and tactics won't work against Onix." Brock said as he threw a pokeball, letting loose an enormous rock pokemon, vaguely reminiscent to a snake. Ash almost fell over at the size. Thirty feet long. He turned to his Charmander. The shiny pokemon looked just as shocked as him.

"Listen buddy." Ash said. Just loud enough for Charmander to hear him. "Fire won't work nearly as good on this guy as anything we have ever faced. But my plan will work so much better on him if we can heat him up." Charmander nooded. He got the message. Heat Onix up until he cant anymore.

"Alright! Charmander use Dragon Aura and Flamethrower!" the dragon type move didn't necessarily help the fire type one, but Charmander was going to need the speed to avoid the giant rock snake. Red flames bathed the snakes head, but bothered it little to none.

"Onix. Harden, Rock Tomb, Tackle." the giant snake glowed for a second before smacking the boulders around it into the air, all aiming for Charmander. Charmander dodged, ending the fire attack.

"Slash! Same as with Graveler." Charmander twisted as it jumped to avoid the tackle, leaving deep grooves in Onix. It howled in pain. "Flamethrower!" once again Charmander spewed flames, this time at the back of Onix head.

"Bind him!" Brock yelled. The Giant snake swung around, its tail tightly squeezing the small lizard pokemon. His flame attack fizzled out, replaced with a yell of pain, as his dragon aura receded.

"Dragon Aura! Slash!" Ash desperately yelled. The lizard was to busy yelling to hear him at all.

"Call him back Ash!" Brock ordered. Ash nodded and reached to retrieve Charmander's pokeball when a bright light escaped the area around Charmander. After a few seconds, the light died down and Charmander was no more. Charmeleon roared, activated Dragon Aura, with a much bigger effect now, and used Dragon Claw. Onix yelled as it was forced to release Charmeleon. The flame pokemon Spewed flames with twice the intensity that he had before he evolved. He cloaked half of Onix in bright flames. Actually causing Onix harm.

"Onix! Screech!" the loud sound was enough to send Charmeleon onto the ground, ending his Draconic aura. "Rock throw!" Onix slammed his body into boulder after boulder, sending a rain of shards at the flame pokemon. Charmeleon was forced to take the attack, he put up his arms and they took

The damage that would have binded Charmeleon was absorbed by his arms, and Charmeleon was thrown backwards. His body bounced upon the ground before sliding near Ash's side of the gym. Ash almost called him back then, but as ash made eye contact with his Pokemon, who slowly began to rise, he saw the fire in Charmeleon's eyes. The dragon-like Pokemon would not forgive him if he threw the match. Ash nodded.

"Let's heat em up. Give them your biggest hottest flame." Charmeleon barked and turned. Letting loose a torrent of flames, he heated the air making the humans present sweat. Onix grunted in annoyance, and waited for its trainers next order. The flames that licked Onix bothered him none, the uncomfort of the fames was bearable, and similar to getting too close to the center of a mountain, were sometimes burning liquid rock was there. In truth, The fire was nowhere near as hot, and even with the mountains The Rock snake considered the heat akin to a warm blanket. His stones steamed, and he shook them as if getting comfortable in his own body.

Brock had made a mistake here. He had assumed Ash was going to return his Charmander to use the much more effective Ice pokemon, but instead Charmander had evolded and ash seemed to be washed up in the new transformation, and refused to return his new pokemon. A rookie mistake, even more so with his insistence on using heat moves when dragon type moves worked so much better.

"Onix, time to end this. Rock Slide." The gargantuan snake pokemon Moved his body and with his immense side, smashed into almost all of the boulders on Onix's side of the arena, moving his body in a way that large fist sided to very large rocks rained down upon Charmeleon. Ash panicked, but did not return his pokemon. Instead Charmeleon darted to the side, running as fast as he could, but even if he could have used Dragon Aura in time for a speed boost, he would not have escaped the hail of rocks, and as soon as Charmeleon was hit, Ash returned him.

"Onix's rock throw would have seriously harmed and retired Charmeleon had he not been returned, so the challenger is forbidden to use Chameleon for the remainder of this match." Proctor said.

Ash smiled nonetheless. "Go Vulpix!" he yelled as he threw her pokeball. She yipped and immediately tensed her body, seeing the large pokemon.

"It was not very smart to keep Vulpix waiting, Ice is more effective against rock." Brock explained. Ash continued to smile and pointed at Onix.

"You're right," Ash said. "But I also know what happens when you meet intense heat with intense cold." Brock looked confused, and then paled. Onix was steaming, his stones looked hot enough to burn. Before he could let out an order, he heard Ash's last move upon Onix. "Moon freeze!" the white ball of energy smacked againto into Onix's head before exploding, releasing cold energy.

The blast, not nearly as strong as her first attack, still sent onix spralling when it impacted with his head, the flurry of snowflakes surrounded the side of his head, where cracks appeared and sounded out through the gym. Before the sudden cold could harm Onix any deeper, Brock returned his pokemon. Ash looked at his starter, and Vulpix looked upon her trainer, her adorable eye's asking a question that was answered with a deep smile and cheering. "WE WON!"

* * *

"Ash, I am proud to present to you the boulderbage." Brock said. He pressed the release, and the box opened. A hexagon shaped badge was inside. He closed the box after both Ash and Vulpix had a good look at it. "I want to send your Dragon Aura move to Lance, the League Campion. If you will let me send the recording that is." holding up the pokedex-like device. Ash beamed.

"I'm honored, but I think I'll leave it as a surprise should I ever meet him."

 _ **Gym battle reward for Ash Ketchum: 5000 poke-dollars, reusable Tm39; Rock Tomb.**_

"Wow." Ash said dumb founded. "I don't know what to say."

"Your welcome." Brock said."You should also know that the Slash you had Charmeleon use was actually Dragon Claw. no Slash I've seen could cut up my pokemon like that." Brock turn a little more serious.

"Before you leave Pewter to head to Mt. Moon, pick up some supplies. You've got rare pokemon and I've heard some rumors team rocket is around that area. Pick up a flare gun, or have Charmeleon send up a very large flamethrower if you end up seeing them, police and League officials will come soon."

"Thank you." Ash nodded. Brock smiled.

"Pick up a rock pokemon while your in mount moon. They are the best ones you can get." Brock said. "Maybe I'm biased."

' _Maybe?'_ Ash thought.

* * *

Ash decided to spend as much money as he could preparing for the Mt Moon. He even asked his pokemon what they wanted for the trip. He had merely bought a bag of bitter berries for Charmeleon, and poke-care set for Vulpix, for brushing washing and trimming her fur when need be. More often than not, Vulpix was trying to find time to get groomed rather than training. Ash supposed it was her feminine urge to always look her best given the opportunity. Ash was happy to oblige, the action had become a relaxing ritual.

Magikarp didn't want anything as far as Ash knew, but he still bough premium fish food for the overall useless-until-it-evolves pokemon.

Ash also bought rations and poke food, flashlights and batteries, pokeballs (he always wanted to have at least ten), and new boots that were better accustomed to mountain terrain. He barely made it though his first grand. So he left pewter after spending two grand on one more item. A pokenav. It was a watch that was a map, telephone, and even had direct link to his pokedex. Ash could pay for things with a flick of his wrist, look up info on pokemon, and record and document anything he found interesting with a small camera.

Finally Ash left town, heading westward towards Mt moon, which towered over him with such an imposing presence he was tempted to just train for a few weeks until Charmeleon evolved, just so he could move around it.

But, Ash decided that wussing out before he even got there wasn't something he wanted to reflect upon his pokemon. So he marched.

* * *

Pidgeot watched the group move eastward. The bird could sense that tragedy was not too far off. But whose business was it? ' _Definitely not mine'_ the bird Pokemon thought. Still, it owed the human and it still could not bear the thought of being in debt to human indefinitely. It cawed, and readied itself for battle.

* * *

Ash stopped traveling about an hour before it got dark, he knew the next day he would make it to the tunnels deep into the mountain. He put up a campsite next to a small murmuring stream flowing from the mountain.

He released his pokemon, all of them, and gave them each a meal. Magikarp was splashing happily in the stream, Charmeleon was basking in the sunlight, and Vulpix was being groomed. After their food settled, Ash decided some light training wouldn't hurt anyone. He put Vulpix down next to the stream, where she drank and watched Magikarp enjoy splashing about.

"Come here Chameleon." The lizard barked in protest. "I've got to scan you really quick."

 _ **CHARMELEON, the flame pokemon. When it swings its burning tail, it elevates the temperature to unbearably high levels. Tough fights could excite this POKEMON. When excited, it may blow out bluish-white flames.**_

 _ **This pokemon is male and has the ability Blaze, and knows the moves Scratch, Growl, Ember, Smoke Screen, Fire Fang, Slash, Flamethrower, and Dragon Claw. This pokemon has the Egg move Dragon Rush.**_

"So Chameleon, It's time you learned Dragon Rage." Charmeleon snorted in agreement. "I think you are going to pick this one up fairly easily, in fact once you learn it, while using Dragon Aura it could be just as effective as flamethrower." Ash stood to the left of Charmeleon and had him aim towards a rock at the edge of the clearing. The mountainous path had many stray boulders, this would be far enough away to not disturb his other pokemon.

"Charge your energy in your chest, as if you were going to breath fire." Ash suggested. A blue ball of energy appeared on Charmeleon's chest, unlike the green Ash was familiar with. It grew very big, before condensing, and raising to Chameleon's throat. The blue ball of energy looked primed, but before Carmeleon could release it as blue flames, it promptly exploded in his face.

"Your using too much power. It's not a flamethrower. Feel free to use dragon aura if it helps. After this I'm going to see if I can teach you Dragon Breath. It's much more powerful and will be easier for you to learn." Ash said. Mostly to himself considering Charmeleon was in 'training made' meaning he wouldn't stop traing until he was unconscious or mastered the move to the best of his ability. Ash decided that Charmeleon could learn this move at his own pace.

He turned towards his other two pokemon. Vulpix was playing a game with Magikarp. Vulpix sent a weak icy wind at Magikarp just as he emerged from the water, cooling him uncomfortably, but not hurting him. Ash realised that Magikarp was getting smarter by the day. Where as a week ago when ash first caught him, Magikarp flopped around, barely conscious of the world around him, Magikarp now was docile, it waited still in the water when it was feed, it played games with Vulpix without panicking, it was true, Magikarp was getting smarter by the day. Ash assumed that given two more weeks, He'd have a brand new Gyarados. Professor Oak would have no reason to doubt his skill when Gyarados reared his head.

"Those are some nice pokemon you've got there. Rare ones indeed." A man in a black outfit said. His hat covered his eyes. His voice cut like a knife. "But taking your Vulpix and Charmeleon won't be hard. I might even let you keep that waste of space fish over there. Even if a newbie like you trained MAgikarp into Gyarados, it'd probably eat you right away."

Ash recognized the rocket immediately. His pokemon sensed his unease and ran to his sides. The man held out four pokeballs, that all snapped open. A Raticate, Zubat, Blastoise, and Eevee appeared. Even though mot were mature pokemon, all exect Blastoise looked worn down, hungry, and feral. All except Blastoise charged.

Raticate was the fastest, and a Hyper Fang was aimed at Cheremelon, who sent a quick Ember to is side, moving to swipe at the air, trying to cut the bat from the air. Eevee ran towards them all, a black spear in its mouth. Shadow Ball. Just as Ash turned to run, the blast was released ten feet from was just as quick, and sent moonblast in retaliation. The black and white balls collided, and the shockwave ripped Ash from the ground. Charmeleon wasn't part of the explosion, as feet away, he was breathing torrents of fire at the enemy. Zubat fangs were always so close, but the real problem came when suddenly, the area around Raticate's mouth started to fill with energy. Ash stood and saw that Charmeleon was holding his head, a supersonic having slammed into his sound cavities. He was going to be hit. Hyper beam.

"Charmeleon! MOVE!" Ash yelled. The Flame pokemon looked up at Raticate in pain, and saw the energy forming in the being mouth. His eyes widened, but he could not move in in time, this much he knew. Then in a brilliant moment, a large shadow slammed into Raticate, and all of the energy from the Hyper Beam shot into the air. A brilliant royal bird emerged, its talons pinning Raticate to the ground, while it let loose a caw menacingly, daring the smaller being to move an inch. The pokemon did no such thing. At the same moment, Charmeleon let loose a huge flame, scorching Zubat.

Vulpix was blinded by a sand attack before being tackled. As soon as Eevee moved off of her, Vulpix fired a Moon Freeze in the direction of the tackle. She hit nothing, and decided moving was a good idea. She was right, because a Shadow Ball slammed into the spot behind her, sending her flying away.

Ash moved to his starter pokemon, slightly limping. He landed on a large rock that bruise the back of his leg, nevermind all the smaller rocks that scratched into his arms and back. He leaned down and picked up Vulpix, who was shaking in pain and fear, and returned her to her pokeball. Eevee glanced at how gental this trainer was in confusion, Eevee had never been treated in such a manor before. The Evolution pokemon shook its head, and returned to the battle, charging at Charmeleon who suddenly had no opponents. Chameleon's Draconic Aura appeared, intimidating Eevee, but it still readied a Shadow Ball, which was getting weaker every time it fired.

Pidgeot turned its attention to Blastoise, who hadn't moved. Pidgeot's caw ripped through the air, and the great bird took flight, not worried about Raticate was drained and terrified into unconsciousness. The great bird let loose Air Slash, great whipps of air flying at Blastoise, who absorbed the attack with his shell. This became a theme of the battle.

* * *

 _Why do you obey a human who abuses you?_ Grunted Charmeleon. _My masters have treated me like a king, and made me strong. You've but one weapon that weakens every time you use it._

 _Shut up, fire breather!_ Eevee spat. _My master trains me harshly because he wants to make me strong. Your master is weak, and that is why I defeated the ice weakling._

Charmeleon roared, his forcosity increased as his Dragon Claws drew nearer to the fox-cat pokemon. In retaliation, Eevee tried to get into Chameleons guard with a tackle, and was swatted away like so much as a fly.

 _She is stronger than you. Without a weakness to the eyes, her blast would have hit you, and put you out of this fight._ Charmeleon paused. _I bet you might have better matched her had you eaten lately. What was your last meal, when even?_

Eevee's stomach tightened at the thought of nourishment. She lept further away from Chameleon, gasping for air. He dropped his Dragon Aura.

 _Join me in defeating the water breather, and I will allow my human to capture you, and join our team. You will eat every day, and grow to be the strongest in whatever form you choose to take._

Eevee took a moment to steady it's breathing. It stared at its trainer, whom it didn't even know the name of. Eevee's trainer was smiling at Pidgeot's attempts to harm blastoise, who fired water into the air periodically. Then Eevee stared at the other human, who looked concerned, leaning injured against a tree. Eevee remembered the luster of Vulpix's fur, the gentleness of her trainer handling of her. And made her decision.

* * *

Magikarp didn't know what to do. This was the first time it had seen anything quite as intense happen to its friends. He could _feel_ primal rage below his subconscious, but he could not bring to the legendary form of his mother and father. Just as a spawn he remembered their size and strength. He needed that now, but it did not come. So instead he watched, and decide that soon, very soon, he would become a weapon like never seen before.

* * *

Ash sat in a daze. He did not know what to do. Half of his fighting face was taken out, and even with pidgeot's help, there was no way he could take out Blastoise, not with the pokemon he had. He had not spoken a single command. He didn't know what to say. With the horde of Beedrill, he had a plan. With the flying pokemon feud, he had a plan. But they were so outclassed, no type advantage,and all of his pokemon where weak against Blastoise, or ineffective.

He saw Eevee turn to blastoise, the halt in her fight with Charmeleon dawned on him. His fire pokemon looked at him and barked, aking for commands. Ash stood shaking.

"Charmeleon, use smoke screen. Eevee, shadow ball when you can." Ash turned to the sky and called out to Pidgeot. "Use hurricane once Blastoise gets hit!" he called up. Ash hoped the avian listened.

Black smoke curled around blastoise and his awful trainer. Both Charmeleon and Eevee retreated into the fog.

"Oh, is this a strategy? So the newbie trainer has some skill!" The rocket called out. "Just for that I'll let you know my name, its Cole. And I've decided to let your plan here fail. Eevee, you useless pokemon, send a Shadow ball at the hidden enemy!" Cole called out gleefully.

* * *

 _As you command._ Eevee smirked. She sent a shadow ball at the right flank of blastoise with all of her remaining strength. The turtle-like pokemon flew out of the smoke, where Pidgeot created hurricane force winds, accelerating his launch into a boulder. With speed aided by dragon Aura, Charmeleon reached close enough to torch Blastoise, who had retreated into his shell.

* * *

I'M SORRY I'M MOVING AND I WANTED TO UPDATE BEFORE THAT. HERE IT IS, I WILL FINISH THE CHAPTER SOON


	3. Chapter 3

_As you command._ Eevee growled. She sent a shadow ball at the right flank of Blastoise with all of her remaining strength. The turtle-like pokemon flew out of the smoke, grunting as air left his lungs. Pidgeot created hurricane force winds, accelerating his launch into a boulder. Ash could hear the creaking of the water Pokemon's shell. With speed aided by Dragon Aura, Charmeleon reached close enough to torch Blastoise, who had retreated into his shell. The flame Pokemon bellowed in triumph as his flames licked Blastoise.

The aquatic Pokemon screeched loudly, and Blastoise's cannons exposed from his shell as he fired an almost point blank Hydro Pump. Chameleon was too close to dodge, and was send flying away. Eevee was behind him, and was dragged along with the flame Pokemon. Ash panicked and quickly returned Charmeleon. However he could not return Eevee nor Pidgeot, who dropped like a stone from the sky, diving past Hydro Pumps that flew in every direction. Ask limped over to Eevee, and shuddered as the caws of the brilliant avian Pokemon in the air became more frequent as dodging became harder. The bird sent air slashes at the blasts of water as they entered the air.

Eevee was beaten and exhausted. Ash carefully picked the Pokemon up and set Eevee on his lap. The Pokemon tried to growl, but found no strength to do so. "It hurts, doesn't it?" Eevee managed to grunt in annoyance. Of course wounds hurt. That's what they're supposed to do. "Trusting someone who is supposed to support you, and being betrayed." Eevee bristled, and froze, listening to the human, ignoring the sound of battle feeling Ash pet knots out of its fur. "My sponsor told me once I got Charmeleon that training him was out of my talent. That was probably the most insulting thing you could tell a Pokemon trainer. I've studied for years to get where I am today. Regardless of what he thinks though, I'll find the strongest Pokemon I can and make them even stronger. Difficulty be damned." Eevee looked up at Ash who was staring at Cole.

Cole had his back to Ash, and Blastoise was in front of him, visibly tiring at each shot of water, and at Pidgeot who was lower in the sky, lacking the strength to high fly over them. Cole was holding two pokeballs, one was empty and ready to be thrown at Pidgeot, the other was most likely Blastoise's. Ash stood slowly, settling down Eevee, and picking up a stone, "I'm not going to let this jerk undermined you guys anymore." Eevee watched mouth agape at Ash, who ran as fast has he could. Cole turned to look at him, and Ash swung his whole body into a punch, directly into the cheek of the rocket. In fact, the rush and thrust of the punch was so unbalanced that Ash fell as well. He got to his knees and saw Cole doing the same. Remembering the rock in his other hand(he wasn't sure if he was upset or thankful he hadn't swung with his rock hand) Ash jumped forward and smashed it Against one of the three other pokeballs around Cole's waist. Cole shouted at him as the metal dented and became useless, releasing one of his Pokémon from ownership.

"You little SHIT!" Cole shouted. He started kicked ash in the ribs, hard. He then kicked Ash square in the chin. He felt his teeth rattle in his skull, and a few ribs straining with each breath. Steel toe boots. He was lucky his jaw wasn't in splinters."That was Eevee's Pokeball! That little piece of trash cost me thousands to teach it ONE useful move. Now I've got to recapture it, and beat the freedom out of it once again."

Cole stood as he heard a caw and a bellow of victory. Blastoise had finally hit Pidgeot. The bird fell from the sky and into a tree. Blastoise huffed and pulled in air trying to catch his breath. Blastoise would have been better off if it had some water to dive into, and recuperate. But it knew it could be days before he could be surrounded by descent water. He prayed to be returned. That last shot was all the water he had left in system.

"Finally. Now after some well placed lessons I'll have a decent ride around Kanto."

"I don't think so." A gruff voice said. And Ash looked up in awe. There was Brock, with three giant Pokémon around him. His Graveler, Onix and Rhyhorn all set and ready for battle. Cole looked nervously at Blastoise, and knew he stood no chance. "Drop your pokeballs, but return him first."

"I know who you are, Brock of Pewter Gym. And you aren't going to take me in today." Cole threw a pellet that exploded into smoke. Seconds later when Brock could see again, Cole was gone, along with his three remaining Pokémon. Brock growled. The rockets was headed to the cave, where it would be next to impossible for Brock to find him without a Pokémon like Growlithe to smell him out.

"Damn it!" Brock turned to Ash who walked over to him slowly, rubbing his jaw. Both trainers began to return Pokémon. Ash used calming words upon the flopping Magikarp, before returning him. "I actually was here a while before I showed myself. That Blastoise was making me nervous, I wanted to wait until he was exhausted trying to hit that Pidgeot. Speaking of, where'd that bird go?" Brock asked. The tree it was resting in was absent one fully evolved Pokémon. Brock was sure Cole had no time to catch it, he could only assume it found the strength to fly away. Brock looked down at Ash who was softly petting Eevee. The Pokémon was beaten up, exhausted, and malnourished. He doubted if he threw a pokeballs it would even wiggle in defiance.

"Are you going to capture her?" The Eevee lifted its head, weakly, to hear Ash's answer. When none came, Brock continued to speak. "It's none of my business, she's not registered to the League systems if she was caught by that guy or given to him by another rocket, and you technically released her already." Ash shook his head.

"I don't know Brock." Ash started. "Ever since the beginning of my journey I've had doubts I'm ready to be a trainer. Professor Oak said to my face I wasn't ready to train a Charmander. He wanted to use its dna as a shiny to replicate it, probably to profit from petty trainers who just what those Pokémon for how they look." Brock looked shocked then confused.

"Charmeleon isn't your starter? Then… it was Vulpix? I doubt he'd give you a rare Pokémon like that if he lacked faith in you."

"Unless he figured I'd never be able to find or afford an ice stone. Then I'd have an adolescent Pokémon permanently." Brock's eyes widened (more like eyebrows rose considering…) as Ash sunk lower, his recent loss against Cole leveled upon him. "Anyway, almost all of my Pokémon are rare or soon to be. Eevee is almost impossible to find in the wild and the tribes of them that can be found are guarded by teams of Pokémon from more than a half dozen types. Do I have the ability to retrain a Pokémon from an abusive upbringing, and protect my Pokémon from those who wish to steal them?" Brock looked down at Ash, his rant finished.

"You're an idiot." Brock said simply. "Whatever qualms you have with Professor Oak, they crumble against your battle strategies, your ability to create new moves and apply them in battle, and the trust you have in your Pokémon. You don't need to have a stone to evolve your Pokémon. While they're helpful in evolving Pokémon to keep pace with the rest of your team, they aren't required. In times of great stress or once Vulpix has grown fully, in power, skill, and confidence, rest assured, she will evolve. And Eevee." Brock gestured to the fox-cat Pokemon who was listening intently. "She wants to be caught. To be trained by the best. That's you, Ash." Ash was wide eyed. He looked down upon Eevee, and past the clouds of anger, hunger, and loneliness brought upon her by abuse, he recognized something he'd seen in Charmeleon when he trained a new move, in Vulpix when they battled a new opponent. In Eevee, he saw Determination, a ferocity and a burning will to become the best, the strongest. He could not deny those eyes. Ash saw them every time he looked in a mirror. Ash reached towards his belt, and drew a pokeball.

* * *

Ash had just felt the last vibrations of the pokeballs as it bonded and secured Eevee, when spotlights glowed and surrounded Ash and Brock, and sirens went off incredibly loud. A dozen Police officers emerged with a blue haired officer spearheading the group, Her Arcanine's growl drowned out the sound of the half dozen Growlithes behind it. The female officer held up a megaphone.

"You both are surrounded and outnumbered. Step forward hands up, and drop any Pokeballs you might have." Ash grasped his belt, and readily began to unbuckle it after dropping his pack.

"Officer Jenny, it's me, Brock." The tan teen told the Officer. She squinted her eyes and frowned. Then after a while she gestured to the officers and waved Brock forward. Ash followed, intent on giving as much information as he could.

"I considered arresting you even after I saw your face Brock. The last time we spoke you were eyeing a nurse while asking for my number." The officer started, slightly smirking at Brock. The young gym leader blushed. Her smile faded. "What's going on here." She demanded. Brock suddenly became serious.

"Jenny, a team Rocket member is headed towards Mt. Moon. He tried to rob this trainer." Brock said seriously.

"Damnit!" The officer cursed. She gestured to a group of the officers and ordered them to pursuit. She turned to Ash, and looked him up and down. Ash took the chance to check his appearance. Mud covered his pants, his shirt was torn and he had scratches and scrapes up his frame. "So, did he make off with any of your Pokémon or possessions?" Ash realized it was actually the other way around. He shook his head and started speaking.

"I'm fine, nothing was stolen but my Pokemon are exhausted." 'All except Magikarp.' Ash thought. He briefly wondered what might have happened if Gyarados roared to life just as Cole appeared. He allowed himself a smile. "Next time I see him we'll be ready to take him without problems." Ash said with fire in his eyes. Officer Jenny smiled.

"I like this one. You ever think about joining the force…" Jenny realized they hadn't been introduced.

"Ash Ketchum. No thank you, I'm trying to become a Pokémon master. Officer Jenny, right?" He offered his had to her, and realized it was covered in dirt and a bit of blood. His knuckles were split from slamming them against Cole's face, and he realized how much his ribs hurt. He forced himself not to flinch. Just as he was putting his hand down, the police officer took it and smiled down at Ash.

"Call me Amy." She smiled down at him. Ash realized how beautiful she was as a woman, and he blushed just a bit. Amy laughed a bit. "So, it looks like you took on a team rocket member head on. How old are you? Twelve?" She asked earnestly. Ash nodded. "That's impressive, but also stupid, they sometimes carry weapons, any your still a kid. Don't go trying that again, okay?" Ash nodded.

"I only got one punch in before he started beating the tar out of me." Ash said, not upset at the loss, but in ever increasing pain. His vision blurred but he refused to close his eyes.

"At this point Ash, it would be easier to count how many of your ribs aren't cracked or bruised or outright broken. I could probably count them on one hand." Brock entered the conversation. "He kicked you in the jaw too right? But I saw you move with the kick. Smart, if you didn't your jaw might be powder right now." Amy's eyes widened.

"You're hurt, Ash?" The officer asked concerned. Ash winced, Brock's mention of his wounds had brought a gasp that had blinded him with pain for a couple seconds, his ever decreasing adrenaline bringing him closer to collapsing.

"A bit." He admitted finally. Jenny called for a nurse, and Brock started laughing.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Jenny asked.

"He's tough as nails! And to stubborn to admit his injuries! I remember being his age." Brock smiled, ignoring the fact that he was only a half dozen years older than Ash. Jenny sighed.

"Boys." Jenny said finally. Ash would have been embarrassed but he was shaking and his pain was so great he hardly heard their words. He fell backwards, his legs collapsed beneath him. Brock caught him, supporting this back. The pain was unbearable, and Ash finally screamed. He blacked out.

* * *

Ash woke up and groaned. The pain in his ribs had faded from throbbing with every breath to a manageable ache. He was in a hospital bed. 'Crap,' he thought. 'I hate hospitals.' He felt his skin crawl and he imagined all the people who might have died on the bed he was in. He thought of of ghosts that _must_ haunt this sterile loveless place of _care._ Ash had no idea where this hated had come from but that wasn't helping his chills.

"You're awake!" A voice said. Officer Jenny- or rather, Amy, Ash corrected himself, had opened the door, still dressed in uniform."You've been out for a day and a half." Ash groaned.

"How bad was it?" Ash asked. Officer Jenny smirked.

"Two fractured ribs, a number of them cracked and bruised, and a cracked tooth. All set, bandaged, and even filled while you were out. You were on quite a few painkillers so if you feel a little of today, that might be why." Amy listed off. Ash groaned again, and he politely asked for help standing. Modern medicine had advanced greatly, and despite having so many injuries, some of the same technology used on Pokemon could be applied to people. In a few weeks he'd hardly remember the pain. Ash realized his backpack was propped up against the wall, his boot next to the bed, and all of his clothes were washed and set upon the foot of his bed. Ash looked down at his hospital gown, and shuddered. Now standing, the smallness of the hospital room, identical hundreds of others, wore down on him.

"I hate hospitals." Ash said with a twisted faced. Amy smiled. "Where are my Pokemon?" He asked suddenly. "Are they okay?"

"They're all fine and healthy. Minus your newest team member who is recovering from _starvation."_ Officer Amy Jenny clenched her fists. "Your team has been hired to entertain the local elementary schoolers, they regularly come in to see Pokemon, and offer some healthy affection." Ash smiled. He imagined the look on some of the kids faces at the ice cold touch of Vulpix.

"Let's go see them." Ash said, carefully walking out of the door and into the hallway. He suppressed a shiver. And tried to find an exit in the eerily endless hallways; only to find that he was on the second floor. Amy offered no help in finding the exit, laughing at Ash everywhere he went wrong. When he finally found the exit, he blushed and checked out. On leaving, he finally asked Amy something that had been bothering him for a while.

"Why are you so nice to me? Not That I don't appreciate it." Ash asked. It was weird how polite she was to him, right? Police aren't usually this willing to help random strangers for this extended amount of time. Amy smiled. Her blue curls seemed to bounce as she turned his head.

"To be honest Ash, I'm not sure. Maybe it's because I had time off, maybe it's because I used to be as determined as you to become the best, maybe because Brock put in a good word." She shrugged. "The point is Ash, I like you. You're gonna go places, I can see it in your eyes." Amy smiled. Their slow paced hadn't mattered much, in just a short few minutes, they had made it to Amy's cruiser. Ash took the passenger seat, and thought of what to ask Jenny next. He decided to speak about just about the only topic he could think of that he had experienced. He asked about her Arcanine.

"I've had him since I was a little girl. He was first a house pet, but my older sisters and cousins in the force trained him whenever they had the chance. He was destined to be a police dog." Amy said smiling. "He's a big furry oaf, and sometimes I think he got even lazier once he evolved. But he's never let me down before." She grabbed a pokeball from her waist. It was blue instead of red, and handed it to Ash. She was shocked she would even trust him to handle her Pokémon's pokeball. "You can feel Arcanine radiate heat through his pokeball." Ash took the ball for only a second and it immediately felt sauna like. He'd heard of affects like that for elemental Pokemon. Sometimes he imagined that he was holding a snowball whenever he touched Vulpix's pokeball. He returned the pokeball to its owner, uncomfortable holding someone else's Pokemon.

"You said evolved." Ash pointed out. Amy smirked. This one was observant. "So you didn't use a fire stone to evolve Growlithe?"

"No. I had one ready for years but I didn't have the guts. I was afraid he'd never reach his full potential. I realize that for a long time I could have evolved him with no negative side effects now." She looked at Ash. "My advice? Don't teach Vulpix any Tm moves she can't already learn, and wait until she stops growing, then give her a stone. Of if you're lucky, one day she will decide herself that she is ready, and burst into a beautiful Ninetails overnight."

"I'm just so worried she'll fall behind. Along with Eevee for that matter." Ash confessed. Officer Jenny nodded. "You understand that in just a few weeks I might have two of the closest things to dragons that Kanto can offer. What kind of chance does Vulpix hold against that?" Amy thought for a second.

"I once saw a Pikachu knock out a Gyarados." Amy said. "It was like for a split second all you could see was a lightning bolt wrap around the beast, then this horrible booming sound of thunder crashed as hard into your ears as the electricity in the Gyarados. It made you feel bad that the Gyarados was so outmatched. I don't remember the trainers name, but," Amy stopped to glance at him, they were approaching the Pokémon center. Ash hung onto her words like they were made of gold. She smiled. "After the match the trainer said something I'll never forget. He said 'every Pokemon has the potential to defeat legendaries. You could train a Caterpie to put out forest fires with string shot, all it takes is patience.'"

Ash seemed to pause and look into himself for a second, and newfound hope blossomed inside him. Despite his injuries and his loss against Cole, he would become the best. His Pokémon would topple giants and legendaries.

His thoughts were interrupted as they made it to the Pokémon center. The training yard behind the building more specifically. It was filled with twenty kids all crowding his Pokémon. Vulpix and Charmeleon were demonstrating some moves under the supervision of a nurse and a teacher. A couple Chancy and Mr. Mime held the kids at a safe distance. Ash had just seen Charmeleon turn on his Dragon Aura. He chuckled. Vulpix was sliding of patches of ice she formed. And Ash could tell they both were being spoiled with treats for everything they did. Some kids had handfuls of berries and pokeblocks.

"How did my Pokémon become such crowd pleasers." Ash asked himself. "He's such a ham." Ash said as his Charmeleon flexed. Amy giggled as they left the car. Across the yard, Vulpix sniffed the air, and her eyes widened as she turned to Ash. She yipped at Charmeleon and rushed towards her trainer. Ash thrust his arms out and caught Vulpix, who pushed her paws against his chest licked his chin. It was super cold but it was comforting against his chest and to cute for him to stop her.

"I'm okay! I'm okay!" He said as she snuggled against him. "Thank you Vulpix." He said. He pet her softly. Charmeleon approached him and barked. A question Ash recognized. "It was my ribs. They were pretty messed up but I'll be okay again soon." Charmeleon grunted. Then Walked off. Ash knew he cared. But his reptilian manly-ness would never allow such a blatant show of affection. Ash understood and nodded. The bro code spoke of such things.


	4. Chapter 4

I'm so sorry for the wait guys. Honestly things were just stressful and I couldn't find motivation to write. I plan on elaborating more later but regardless, I just turned 18! I remember how badly I used to write, four hundred word chapters and three way crossovers. I started when I was 14. 14! With five to ten views a day if I was lucky. I haven't updated in months and it's now TEN TIMES THAT. You guys rule. (also this might be my biggest chapter yet)

* * *

Despite his Charmeleon's apparent manliness, which Ash understood completely, his shiny Pokémon was acting shockingly protective. Charmeleon kept an eye on Ash closely as they entered the Pokémon center. Looked around and while his Pokémon were with him, (Vulpix was walking so close his whole left side had goosebumps. Was her cold affect area getting bigger?) half of them anyway, he still had no idea where his Magikarp or his Eevee were.

"Ash Ketchum?" A nurse asked from across the room. Ash nodded and walked over. "Here you are sir." She handed four pokeballs to him. He of course could tell which balls were for each of his Pokémon, and noticed Eevee was not within one of the Pokeballs.

"You're Eevee is currently undergoing some special treatment, but she will be ready to travel with you shortly, would you like to come with me to see her?"

"Of course." Ash said. The nurse lead him through a hallway, and along the way gave him Eevee's report. Vulpix seemed to build in apprehension, and charmeleon started letting off just a bit more heat.

"Well for starters she's incredibly stubborn, bratty even." The nurse giggled. "She got along well enough with our specialist though." Her facial features hardened. "She's been thoroughly abused and neglected. Eevee doesn't really trust any of us, she doesn't socialize, and we can't approach her at all, any attempt and she'll growl and hiss like nobody's business." They finally got to a room. It was a wide open space, more like a pen. It had small toys here and there, water and food dishes, and most importantly, it had Eevee. She growled at the door. Vulpix tensed, and Charmeleon seamed to bark at the both of them.

Eevee glanced at the large fire type. She huffed in his direction, and stopped growling. Vulpix huffed as well, a small flurry of snow exposing the icy wind she was preparing.

"What was that?" Ash asked the nurse as much as he asked his Pokemon. Charmeleon spat. The glob of pretty much magma sizzled on the ground. He then flexed, showing of his reptilian biceps as if to say 'I'm in charge here.'

"Okay. That explains literally nothing." Ash said. Vulpix blew ice cold wind upon Charmeleon's tail. This sent a shiver up his spine, and he yelped girlishly. Eevee burst into a fit of giggles. Vulpix smiled, as Charmeleon growled at her.

"Okay crew." Ash addressed his Pokemon. They all gave him some level of attention. "We lost pretty thoroughly against team rocket. But, we gained a new team member." Ash nodded at Eevee. Vulpix held her head to the ground. Ash pet her. She looked up at Ash who smiled. "This was my doing. I could have returned you guys and ran towards town. But I made a mistake." Vulpix stared into Ash's eyes. "I'm sorry." He sighed.

"But that's enough about the past. We will move past this. We will evolve, we will train, and become stronger than our opponents. We don't become strong because of those who wronged us, we become strong to stop those who wrong us, to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else. The next time we see Cole, or any team rocket member, we'll send them home crying!" Ash exclaimed. Silence held the room for many moments. The nurse beside him staring wide eyed suddenly laughed angelically. Charmeleon's tail suddenly burned brighter, and all eyes turned to him as the fire type barked loudly in agreement. Vulpix yipped and tackled Charmeleon. The fire type fell over, and began to wrestle the ice type. Eevee watched silently, still in amazement.

"Don't start training right now! At least wait until we get outside! CHARMELEON NO FIRE MOVES INDOORS!"

* * *

Ash was on the road again not two days later, with a special dietary plan for Eevee and much roughhousing from Vulpix and Charmeleon. He decided to walk up towards the mountain with almost every Pokemon he had out. He contently listened to a conversation between his Pokemon, aware that he might never fully understand them.

He was certain they were excited to be moving though.

This mountain may have enemies within. Charmeleon said. We must be ready for anything.

Why are we doing this again? Asked Vulpix. The last time we headed for this cave we all could have been taken, or worse, if not for that bird randomly showing up.

You guys didn't know that thing? Eevee asked. What kind of wild Pokémon randomly drops into a battle where it could be harmed?

Ash was told a few things before he left Pewter. Amy's frequent visits, and the extensive conversations heralded with them, had yielded some important information to Ash. First of, Mt Moon was closed. It was unofficially certain Team Rocket was the cause, but of course, Team Rocket is still avoiding blame for anything. It was common knowledge Team Rocket was god awful. Rotten to the core, with a leader nobody knows, and deception beyond belief.

But, Team Rocket ultimately does things to win favor with the public, donations to Pokemon Research, funding charities, helping little old women cross the street. These acts hold sway upon the minds of many, and there are those who believe Team Rocket is righteous, if a little corrupt.

Anyway, this ridiculous thought aside. Ash was intentionally heading into the lair of mount moon. He knew that among a couple of police officers, Brock had entered the caves late the night before, and hadn't emerged yet. His worry for his new friend pushed him to help as soon as possible. But Eevee, it seemed, wouldn't be of much help in this endeavor. She was strictly forbidden from battling for another few days.

"Hey, Eevee." Ash said as he paused, interrupting his Pokémon's conversation. Eevee looked strangely at him, (as did Charmeleon and Vulpix) and Ash again felt mild awkwardness between them. He sighed and pulled out his Pokédex. "Come here, I gotta scan you quick."

EEVEE, the Evolution Pokemon. EEVEE has an unstable genetic makeup that suddenly mutates due to its environment. Radiation from various STONES causes this POKéMON to evolve.

This EEVEE is female and has the ability Adaptability. It knows the moves; Growl, Helping Hand, Tackle, Sand Attack, Baby-Doll Eyes, And Shadow Ball.

Ash was flabbergasted. An Eevee should at least know swift and quick attack before you shove a TM like shadow ball upon them. He sighed at her mistreatment and patted her head.

"The first bit of training I have for you is learning the move swift. But we should wait a day or two more before making that decision." He told the small fox-cat Pokémon. Ash admitted to himself that he was indeed worried about what he was getting into. The daunting task of entering the tunnels of mt. Moon left Ash supremacy worried about his Pokémon's safety. He sighed.

As they marched towards the mountain Ash took a break about a quarter mile from the caves. He looked at his Pokémon, and relayed to them a plan.

"We are going to be fighting multiple battles in those tunnels. I have a flashlight for the darkest areas, but I'm sure team rocket will have lights up and out in those tunnels. I expect swarms of Zubat, Geodudes, and armed members of Team Rocket." He relayed the information. Ash looked his Pokémon in the eyes. They all seemed tense, ready, and confident. He wished for their strength.

"For the majority of this… mission… Vulpix will be out and battling. Eevee, I was told that you were in no condition to fight right now so our only option is Charmeleon." Eevee didn't look pleased but Charmeleon grunted something at her and she acquiesced. "We need to be stealthy and search for the officers or Brock in those tunnels. With their assistance and guidance we might be able to make a difference today. Charmeleon will be our last resort, the light of his flame would make it impossible to not be spotted."

His Pokémon took in his words, and he prepared for battle. He had extra batteries for his flashlight ready, his boots tied, and clasped his Pokémon belt around his waist. His flashlight had a button on it to turn it on and off and the sound it made as he pressed it down seemed thunderous when imagining how quiet he needed to be in those tunnels.

Vulpix stood still in the clearing, she seemed focused on gathering as much lunar energy as possible it was close to dusk and the task was difficult but possible with the setting sun. Charmeleon seemed so wound up Ash expected bouts of fire to fly into the air every time the lizard Pokémon exhaled. A few good sized clouds of smoke were pushed out of Charmeleon's mouth every few seconds. Eevee, paced the field impatiently. Obviously displeased with her new trainers option to leave her out the fight.

Ash was barely holding on, the apprehension of diving into this kind of situation made his breath short and his stomach drop. He was not excited. He knew two things though. He wasn't one to wait while others fought battles for his regard, he wouldn't just wait for the police force to subdue to Team Rocket, if they even could. And secondly, he knew that he was at least a week behind his fellow Pallet town trainers. And it was true that a bit of ego made him very eager to catch up.

The sun fell below the horizon. The edge of the sky was still painted beautiful orange and pink colors, but Ash didn't wait to see night fully come. He could visibly see in Vulpix's dark blue eyes white light making them glow slightly. She was a beautiful specimen. He brought his Pokémon in. They all seemed tense. He smiled at them all. He scratched under Charmeleon's chin, it was unexpected, and the lizard closed his eyes as he accepted the gesture. Charmeleon's scales where smooth, and hot to the touch. He placed his hand on Vulpix's curls, ice cold but silky smooth. Both his Pokémon leaned into the touch.

"I'm not the most expressive trainer at the best of times. Most of the time I've known you two I've been training you to become stronger. I'm sorry I didn't express how proud I was more often." Ash said. He smiled at them. "I love you both and I'm scared to death that Team Rocket might do something to seriously wound you three." He turned to Eevee, and scratched behind her ears, petted around her face then scratched her chin too. She was content at this but very confused.

"I'm sorry I can't put you out there today, I'm sure once you're in fighting condition you could take on everyone in there with just as much vehemence as both of these two." He said. He remembered how broken Eevee felt he's he held and pet her in the battle with Cole. It hurt.

"I have complete faith in you guys, I just needed you to know that. Are you all ready for this upcoming fight?"

He was met with steely resolve and affirmative answers. This talk was to steady his nerves just as much as it was a moment to relate to his Pokémon. His friends. His comrades. It was a damn shame Magikarp couldn't have joined them. Though The fish Pokémon could probably pull of a tackle, he doubted it would do much against anything in the cave.

* * *

Ash walked thru the tunnels, Vulpix at his heels. The light of his flashlight seemed to be absorbed into darkness as it could hardly reach the ceiling and definitely could see the end of any path he took. He made a mental map as he traversed, realizing he'd have to remember it backwards and in reverse made his head hurt. He hoped he wouldn't have to turn tail and run anytime soon.

'Right, left, left, right, left. Darn it. Right, left, right, right, left.' Ash sighed through his nose. 'I hope one of my Pokémon can hear or smell our way out of here because if they can't…'

He refused to think about that. Instead he continued to document directions until he came across something on the ground. It was green, and completely torn apart. It was partly stained in red.

It was Brock's vest. They were going in the correct direction. He handed the torn cloth to Vulpix.

"Can you smell him out?" He asked. He wasn't sure how strong her sense of smell was. Vulpix yipped and breathed in the smell of the vest. She was no Growlithe but she had a sense of smell that was strong enough to follow the very pungent smell on Brocks vest. Blood. She followed his earthy sent diligently, and small brown specks of blood nearly impossible to see in the ground below them now lit up like beacons to her sensitive nose and pointed better than neon signs to the direction Brock was.

At first, Ash couldn't tell why Vulpix stopped. She stared at the rock wall with teeth showing and hackles raised. Ash then saw four arms trying very hard to not look like arms pressed against the wall. The rocks eyes opened and Ash realized it was a Graveler. Brock's Graveler. It had to be, why else would Vulpix's sense of smell bring them here.

"Settle down Vulpix." Ash commanded. Vulpix relaxed a small bit. The young trainer turned to Graveler who looked hostile, but unwilling to move. "Do you know where Brock and the other officers are?" Ash asked. The rock Pokémon grunted. Of course it new where it's master was. "Do you remember us? We battled in Brock's gym a few weeks ago. We wanna help Brock. Can you take me to him?"

Graveler looked down at Ash and seemed to accept this answer. At carefully and as quietly as it could, it moved out of the way and a deep tunnel was shown behind him. It had a noticeable incline up but wasn't so steep as Ash couldn't walk up it. The moment Ash and Vulpix were through the entrance, Graveler closed them off.

The tunnel was smaller than any other Ash had been in. Maybe 15 feet in circumference. He was barely 30 seconds into walking forward before he was blinded by multiple flashlights.

"Ash? Really? Why are you here?" He heard the voice and the lights moved from blinding him, infect, those who were there turned their lights off. The room was filled with half a dozen officers armed with poke balls, and Brock, whose chest was wrapped in bandages.

"A 'hello' would have been nice Brock." Ash said. He shook his head. "Sorry, the dark tunnels are getting to me. I'm here because I couldn't stomach the idea of not helping you guys. You've been here for more than 24 hours. What's the matter guys? What's going on?"

Brock clenched his teeth as he spoke. "There are seven of us, but none of us were prepared for what they did. A few members caught us off guard, then used a device sound based to have a swarm of Zubat and Golbat surround us. Worst of all was a Crobat that spit poison at us. One of the Golbat latched onto me and I was bleeding like nobody's business after that. I'm lucky one of these officers is a field medic." He grinned at a young brunette officer who blushed under his gaze. "We retreated, and have made a few attempts to escape the tunnels, but were forced back into a retreat over and over due to their firepower."

"What are we up against and what do we have to use against them?" Ash asked.

"A Blastoise has pretty much crushed anything we throw up against it, but other than that we haven't seen much other that rats, a few Ekins and a voltorb or two. These guys aren't very well equipped. Most of these officers have magnificent Growlithes, a few Pidgeots, Beedrill, Venonat, and Butterfree. I have two Geodudes, rhyhorn, and Graveler. Nothing we have can injure that Blastoise, and any attempts at poison powder or too much resistance is met with the summoning of countless Bat Pokémon." Brock sighed. Ash thought it over.

A forward attack would be suicide, and it was astonishing that Ash wasn't caught during his trip into the mountain or to find Brock. That meant that either the Team Rocket members were all together somewhere or they were spread to thin to notice him traversing the tunnels.

'So they have the home field advantage, and a way to bring every Zubat and more down upon us. And it's basically a due fact that Cole is here, and if I were a betting man then I'd say he probably is the one with the sonic machine.'

"What if we somehow destroyed their sonic device, and Blastoise wasn't present for the fight, Brock, are you confident we could defeat the rest of Team Rocket?"

"Definitely." Brock said without hesitation. "Do you have a plan?"

"That depends, is Cole the Team Rocket member with the Zubat thingy?" Ash asked. Out of hoping Ash wasn't on a revenge quest Brock had avoided hat name in his retelling of his story. But he curtly nodded nonetheless.

"Then here's my plan." Ash said as he pulled his poke balls off his belt.

* * *

Cole yawned. It had been four hours since the officers had made any movement against him. His sonic amplifier, a device greatly similar in shape to a Pokédex with two fist sized speakers on each side, gave him great reason to believe that nothing short of a legendary immune to poison was going to seriously threaten him in the dull corridors. He hated the tunnels, but the moonstones here were so very valuable, and he wanted to make a fair profit for working here, as well as take home a few souvenirs.

When a flashlight was visible to him from around the corner, Cole couldn't believe his eyes when a familiar face walked into the light of the fluorescent light bulbs Team Rocket had hung along the walls of mount moon. The brat who'd stolen his Pokémon stood there, vulnerable as hell for another beat down. Cole laughed.

"You are one unlucky bastard!" He announced. The towering form of Blastoise behind him leveled its cannons on Ash. Ash put his hands up.

"You again? Really? Breaking a few of my ribs wasn't enough? I was in the hospital for days. Can I just leave?"

"Oh no no no! Don't scorn my hospitality like that, young trainer. Hand over your belt or Blastoise is going to fire, and I don't think I need to explain what high pressure water does at close range." Cole threatened. Ash complied. Looking longingly at his belt, and the four poke balls latched there upon. Cole grinned upon walking forward closer to Ash. He punched him hard in the face before picking up the belt.

"Don't worry, after I use this doohickey to summon enough bats to kill you," he waved said doohickey. "I'll sell your Pokémon to the highest bidder. Not Eevee though, I'm going to wear that runt as a new scarf." He laughed hard. He heard Ash laughing as well, and stopped, looking down in the universel 'what the hell' face.

Ash grinned, and turned to face Cole. He said one word.

"Boom." A Moonblast burst into existence from the far corner of the tunnel where light didn't reach. The attack exploded point blank in Blastoise's face, crashing him hard into a wall. Cole whipped his head around as a response to the noise, he heard the release of a pokeball.

Or rather, Four. Two Butterfree, and two venomoth exploded from the confines of pokeballs. The pokeballs on the belt Cole had taken from Ash. Immediately stun spore and sleep powder befell Blastoise and his trainer, and both were sent to la la land.

* * *

Vulpix was promptly picked up and spun around. Ash was laughing like a mad man as he showered attention on his starter Pokémon.

"YES! We did it!" He celebrated. Ash put Vulpix down after throwing a pokeblock in her direction. He returned his borrowed Pokémon, stomped on the sonic amplifier, and returned Blastoise to his masters pokeball. With difficulty he put Cole on his shoulder, and started walking down towards the unmistakable sounds of fighting just a few tunnels down. He couldn't imagine his luck that Cole was so egotistical that he patrolled alone. It was easy to figure out what his rounds where with more than six police trained Growlithes at use. He only needed one but still.

The real hard part was signaling to Vulpix when to fire, Ash did so after he was hit to the ground. A simple nod to where Vulpix was. That's all it took. That and releasing the Pokémon on his belt while Cole wasn't paying attention.

Anyways, Ash made it to a large corridor. It was filled with lights, police Pokémon attacking Team Rocket, and cages. Dozens of caged Pokémon. Mostly Clefairy. Also Parasect, meowth, and one very frail Machop.

Ash growled and found Brock near another entrance. All four of his Pokémon in battle with the weaker Team Rocket Pokémon, he was at a console, pressing buttons. Two officers flanked him doing the same.

"You two should hunt down Team Rocket, I'll help Brock release the Pokémon." He suggested. He handed them his borrowed bug Pokémon. The had a look on their faces that said 'who died and elected this kid as police chief' but they agreed and took the police Pokémon back and entered battle.

"Here." Brock handed four pokeballs back to Ash. He returned Vulpix, and released Charmeleon.

"Go cut the bars off those cages." Ash said. Brock grabbed his arm.

"The bars are powered by electricity, you'd need a rock Pokémon. And you might scare the Pokémon worse." Brock exclaimed. He turned back to his terminal. "The best option is to find the release button." Ash nodded. He turned to Charmeleon.

"Go knock some heads." He ordered. Charmeleon grinned and bounded off.

* * *

The operation was a success. They freed a ton of mountain Pokémon, and captured five Team Rocket Pokémon, including Cole and his Blastoise. Ash grinned as he walked through the tunnels, content with his victory. He released all but Magikarp, and his team walked contently through the tunnels.

He was happy things worked out. Sure, about a dozen Rockets escaped. But none were real threats, and with Charmeleon's flame and Vulpix Frost, he knew he'd be alright.

Things went better than expected, he assumed he be charging in, fighting battle after battle until he either came out of the cave or…

Regardless. He had won. Vulpix was tilting her head back and forth, and yipping to Eevee. Eevee responded by tilting her head too, and answered with agreement. They both turned to Ash. His grin grew bigger, if possible.

"Do you two know the way out?" he asked. They both nodded in excitement and agreement. Charmeleon roared to show his willingness to escape mt. Moon. "Then LETS GO!" He rushes forward, but was quickly overtaken by Eevee and Vulpix. Charmeleon was bigger but still overtook his easy when green energy erupted from his yellow scales. "THAT'S CHEATING!"

All four beings rounded a corner and saw light at the end of the tunnel. Ash grinned and slowed down, out of breath. Maybe he should be training himself.

A small pink Pokémon pulled at his pants leg. He saw a small Clefairy there, shyly saying its own name. Ash smiled down at it.

"Hey there. Was there something you wanted to show me?" He asked. The Pokémon seamed to be reaching for his hand. He brought it down and felt something cold drop into his hand. A small stone with a crescent moon engraved on it gave away what the item was. A moonstone. Ash looked down at Clefairy and thanked it, before pocketing the item and walking towards Cerulean City.

* * *

Cerulean city was gorgeous. A beautiful lake expanded behind the city, pure mountain spring water. Heavy Factories that could pollute the water were never introduced, the city folk and gym strictly enforced things like no litter laws.

Ash made his way to the Pokémon center. The streets of the town were ivory white and make each step he took with his boots click.

The Pokémon center was bigger than any other he'd been in. Decorative portraits of water Pokémon covered the walls. Ash approached the counter.

"I'd like to have my Pokémon checked out. One of them was recently suffering under an abusive trainer and I believe you might have gotten a message about that by the nurses over at Pewter's Pokémon center?" He asked politely. The nurse smiled at Ash.

"Ash Ketchum?" She asked without looking down. Ash nodded. Looking questionably at the nurse. "I'm Nurse Joy, my sister works at the Pokémon center and my cousin works at the hospital in Pewter city. I've heard much about you." She giggles at him. Ash blushed. He handed her his four Pokémon and sat in the waiting area, looking out at the water. It was gorgeous, and he was fairly exhausted from staying up all night. He decided he was going to take his Pokémon out to the beach today. But first off…

Ash made it to the telephone and punched in a phone number. Not a full five seconds past before his mother's face burst into camera view. He smiled at Delia Ketchum.

"Hi mom." He said. Ash pulled the phone away from his ear the moment he saw her intake a seemingly limitless intake of air. Oh boy.

"ITS BEEN ALMOST A MONTH ASH KETCHUM! I'VE BEEN WORRIED SICK, YOU REFUSED TO CALL ME AT ALL AND YOU NEGLECTED TO MAKE ANY CONTACT WITH PROFESSOR OAK! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!" Ash was holding the receiver two feet from his ear and it was STILL loud enough to deafen him. He pretended not to notice the stares he got and laughs at his back.

"I'm sorry mom." He said truthfully. But them smiled brightly. "Guess whose in cerulean city?" He asked her. She giggled.

"Ash, Gary was there two weeks ago." She said. "He's also caught more than 30 different types of Pokémon." Ash looked down trodden.

"WELL I'M SURE GARY WON'T HAVE A FRIGGIN GYARADOS BY THE END OF THE MONTH! Or an Eevee as good as mine, an alolan Ninetails, or a black Charazard. My Pokémon are way better than his!" He argued. His mother laughed.

"As your mother I have a direct link on your Pokédex, so I know when you get to each town. It also tells me when you catch a new Pokémon. Eevee was a surprise. Have you decided what you are going to evolve it into? You have lots of options." Ash looked off.

"I'll let her decide. I'm not sure how though, but I know that if I force her to evolve, she will resent me for it. So I'll let her decide naturally."

"That's very mature Ash." His mom said. "Now tell me about Pewter's gym battle." Ash nodded.

"First was his Graveler. We managed a few hits but it tanked everything we threw at him. So we covered the field in a smokescreen and I switched Pokémon under the smoke and smacked it with a critical surprise attack!" Ash grinned. "Next was an Onix. It almost had us, but Charmander evolved, and before he was retired we heated up Onix's boulders to the point where they were almost glowing. Then I froze him with Vulpix, the rock cracked and Brock was forced to retire Onix."

"It certainly sounds like you tend you use your head and don't really prefer straight up combat. That's a very intelligent way to win battles." Ms. Ketchum remarked. Ash cringed, and decided to tell his mom how he obtained Eevee in an open match that he lost, and how he got to Cerulean.

She was not happy. She yelled at him, berating him, cried a small bit at how he described his injuries. He talked about Officer Amy and Brock being his friends, and how he traversed the tunnels. And he related to his mom about how he didn't really have anything in his arsenal that could take gym taught water Pokémon.

"You fought through Team Rocket against a water Pokémon." She mentioned. Ash knew she was right. "Check our the water Pokémon gym, they actually have a few shows there, and I've heard that they even teach non-water Pokémon and children to swim there. Plus one of the gym leaders might be able to give you a tip on Magikarp." That gave Ash an idea.

"Thanks for all the help Mom, I'll call you again soon. Love you." He said. She smiled and responded likewise.

The phone rang longer this time, and when she answered the phone, Misty was surprised to see Ash's face. She recognized the background behind him and knew Ash was at Cerulean city's Pokémon center.

"Hi Misty." He said, then got a chance to notice what she was wearing, and he barely caught his breath before a gasp. She was wearing a two-piece swimsuit, dark blue in color. It wasn't exactly a bikini, as her swimsuit bottom was much longer, but it was latex thin and fit tightly. Perfect for swimming. "Uhhhh."

"First day with your new lips, Ash?" She giggled. "Do you like my swimsuit?" She asked. Ash blushed, shook his head and slapped both his cheeks. He calmed himself. He wouldn't let her outfit bother him.

"It's becoming of you." He said evenly.

"'It's becoming of you' How old are you! I figured you were my age but apparently your my great granddad!" She teased.

"Excuse me for being a little more mature." Ash countered.

"Yeah, excuse you for acting older than Agatha!" Misty shot back. Agatha if the elite four and Professor Oak were the oldest most renown people in Kanto. It was a solid burn. Ash grit his teeth and tried to look furious. Misty held her breath until her face was red. Then they both laughed at how hilarious the other person looked.

"What do you need Ash?" Misty finally said. "I'm just closing up the pool where I was working as a lifeguard today." If Ash was paying attention he'd have questioned why a pool was closing at no later than three in the afternoon.

"I was wondering if you could help me think up a strategy against the Cerulean Gym." Misty perked up at that.

"No can do Ash. Any water Pokémon trainer worth her Goldeen has trained in that gym. It would feel like betraying the gym if I did something like that." She thought for a moment. "Why don't you meet me tomorrow morning and I'll see if I can teach any water-type moves to you guys. I'd love to see Vulpix again."

"That's fine." Ash said a little down trodden. He said his goodbyes to Misty before walking to the counter to retrieve his Pokémon. He thumbed the moonstone in his pocket and greeted all his Pokémon. He was kind of tired of not being able to greet magikarp with the rest of his friends. He had heard somewhere that intelligent Pokémon could see and hear outside a pokeball. He had even seen pokeballs that you could see through and actually converse with Pokémon within.

He petted Vulpix and she pawed at his waist, by his poker with the moon stone. She must have sensed the energy within the stone. That was pretty interesting.

Ash grinned.


End file.
